PEA Alums Beat PA’s with Final Hour Gifts

Although Exeter football’s five-year winning streak against Andover came to an abrupt end this past E/A Weekend, Exeter tasted success in the Exeter/Andover Challenge.The Challenge, a race to see which school’s alumni could make the most gifts in support of their alma mater, ended midday last Friday with Exeter in the lead at 1,329 donors in comparison to Andover’s 1,298 donors. As a reward, Exeter’s flag is flying above the Andover campus.“The Exeter Fund benefits every member of the Exeter community. We thought that playing upon [the] rivalry to help support the school through the alumni who love and care so deeply about it would be well-received,” Lee Frank, assistant director of the Exeter Fund, said.

On the morning of Friday the 8, Exeter alumni came back with 377 donations in just three hours to secure the win by 31 gifts.

This year was the second time the competition was held. Two years ago, when the challenge last took place, Exeter had also won, 302 to 182. However, this year, Andover was in the lead until the final few hours. The first day, Andover received 302 gifts and by Friday morning was still up by 121 gifts. Despite this, on the morning of Friday the 8, Exeter alumni came back with 377 donations in just three hours to secure the win by 31 gifts.Alumni also expressed their excitement about the challenge. “I think this sort of competitive fundraising is a great way to boost enthusiasm for giving. Especially for alums who never played a sport at Exeter, this is a wonderful way to feel a part of the E/A games and festivities because we have a competition of our own,” Max Freedman ‘13, former Student Council president, said.The threat of having the rival’s flag flying over campus gave alumni even more reason to show spirit. “The E/A fundraising challenge was done two years ago (Andover still lost) without the flag as an incentive. I think the flag flying over Andover helped to boost alumni enthusiasm or at the very least provided a sense of urgency not present last time,” Freedman said.Principal Hassan sent out a “kick-off” video on Monday, encouraging alumni to donate. He sent another video at midnight on Friday featuring himself dressed as the lion rampart in a race to beat the gorilla. Lastly, Mr. Weatherspoon and Mr. Brown sent a video on Friday morning asking alumni to make the final leap to the finish line. In the video, Mr. Weatherspoon reminded Exeter alumni that their blood cells are red, not blue.That morning, Exeter received the greatest number of gifts in a single day than it had ever collected through this competition. “I think the most gratifying thing was that regardless of the score, both schools were winners in this challenge.” Frank said. “We each enjoyed an enormous spike in giving and, more importantly, connection among alumni during the week.”Alumni who donated were graduates from the classes of 1999 to 2013 and were happy to support their school through the challenge. “I think it's great. I've always been very grateful to Exeter for giving me all the opportunities to grow as a student and person, and this challenge gave us alums a fun way of expressing that gratitude,” Gene Chang ‘13 said.Alumni were also appreciative of the success of the challenge. “No matter how old of an alum you are, if it involves beating Andover, you can relate, and having these kind of promotional tactics that reverberate through generations is quite effective,” Andrew Seo ‘13 said.“As for whether I think it was effective, I know it was. Around 40 percent of our class donated last week, and that's no accident,” Freedman added.This Tuesday, the Exeter flag proudly flew over Andover’s campus as over 1,000 students and 200 faculty members passed by throughout the course of the day. “From my end, I am delighted that the Exeter and Andover communities rose to this challenge for their respective schools and thought the entire weekend was a great success,” said Hassan.Many agree that this challenge should continue in the future as part of the E/A festivities. “I do think it should be continued. It seemed to be an effective way to get people excited about giving and to bring that competitive Exonian spirit to ensuring that we as alums could help provide a better experience for those who follow us than [the experience] the Phillipian alums are able to [provide] for their successors,” Freedman said.“I think the E/A challenge as an extension of the E/A competition is really great because as alums, our time has gone from the school, so all we can really do is cheer, but this makes us feel involved in the games in a way,” Seo said.The challenge was a success not only in terms of Exeter’s victory against Andover, but also in triumphantly connecting with alumni and uniting as a school. As said on the Exeter website in a newsletter to parents and alumni, “It's about pride, Exeter. And you've made the entire PEA community proud!”